Hundreds get free items at SUCO dorm giveaway
May 25—Monday morning after the college students moved out of the SUNY Oneonta dorms, a 22-foot-long dumpster sat next to Hays Residence Hall, half-full of debris the students had left behind. Two giant teddy bears, plastic shelves, broken mirrors and chairs, and a number of books soaked by Sunday's rain were among items visible on the top layer.
However, the dumpster was not overflowing — as was typical in years past —thanks in part to Rachel Kornhauser, sustainability coordinator for the college. For three years she has cooperated with the Otsego ReUse Center in Oneonta to rescue some of the used goods that students otherwise tossed.
Kornhauser and residence hall staff set up donation drop boxes in dorm lounges. Custodial staff then delivered truckloads of items to the ReUse Center, she said.
The college and Arc Otsego publicized a "free sale," and hundreds came. Tuesday morning, people lined up outside the ReUse Center two hours in advance, waiting for a turn to pick through the estimated 50,000 pounds of possessions left behind by departing college students.
"This year alone, it's doubled in size, in terms of the volume of stuff that the kids left," said Bill Hardy, manager of the Otsego ReUse Center. He thinks they received over $200,000 worth of items from SUNY Oneonta — "all kinds of brand new clothes, shoes and everything else. Housewares, appliances. We had 50 microwaves, we had maybe a half a dozen mini-fridges," he said.
The event opened at 9 a.m. After the first group of 30 people were admitted to the fenced-off area to browse, 182 more remained in line, down the street and around the corner. By the end, more than 400 shoppers had passed through, Hardy said.
Inside the perimeter, an event tent was full of tables piled high with clothing. Outside, additional tables, racks and shopping carts held almost everything one might find at a garage sale, but newer.
Fifteen minutes after the opening, the first shoppers started to walk away with multiple overflowing bags or armloads full of new and slightly used clothes, bedding, furniture, appliances, books and more.
Volunteer Louise Klejbuk stood at an exit, telling shoppers "once you leave, you can't come back" since people from the line were let in to take their places. The line continued to grow.
Brandon Conn of Oneonta stood at a corner table, holding three reusable shopping bags, almost full. "I got college textbooks, because I'm a nerd," he said. "Science books, cool free books that probably cost $200 new. And some clothes." Conn said his house, he tried to reuse a lot to cut down on waste. He had started to think about it when he worked at Wal-Mart and Home Depot, "where stuff gets tossed that shouldn't, because that's cheaper than sending it back, and somebody else actually getting it," he said. He raised his three bags. "All this in half an hour. Can't beat that!"
As she let Conn out the exit, Klejbuk said that she has been helping at Arc Otsego for four years.
"I had a house fire in 2018, and these people saved my bacon ... I rebuilt my house, it took a year, and my house is full of furniture from ReUse. They helped me every way they could. It was heartfelt, and I always thought I would pay it forward," she said. She now works in the admissions office at SUNY Oneonta as well as at the ReUse Center.
Klejbuk said she was glad to see how much was being redistributed, but "I wish we could do more. I see a lot of it still went to the landfill." She blamed the students' lack of knowledge, "and I certainly don't think they are aware of the needs" of the community.
"We're not even a drop in the bucket," said Hardy as the line started to dwindle. "To me, every county should have a reuse center. Period."
"It's a lot of work to keep it under control," he said. "But the biggest thing in a reuse system is you know the customers that we serve are the ones that need it the most" — people who could not afford to buy the same items new.
Jody Perry of Otego pushed a stroller through the sale, loaded with a microwave, air mattress, comforter and pillows, while her daughter Christina carried the baby. Perry said she was glad the students had been generous and donated. "No, they're throwing it away. It wastes money, and fills up our landfills," Christina Perry interrupted.
Looking around at the other shoppers, some well dressed and others not, Perry said she was bothered that some people "come down here and just take, when they actually have the money to pay for it. And other people don't."
She put herself in the latter category. She's been working for Uber and Doordash, and in the "summertime I sell vegetables over at Mirabito, and my husband's on a pension, and we still can't make it," she said — even though she owns her property and the mortgage is paid off.
Kornhauser said she thought the program had diverted 75% of resalable items from the trash, and then, as she thought about, decided that estimate was too high. "Unfortunately, we just can't capture all of it. So we tried to just get it wherever we can," Kornhauser said. "People are really looking for convenience on their way out. ... You know, behavior change is very difficult. We pull some stuff out of the dumpster when we see it."
By 10:30 a.m., the line was gone and so was almost all the stuff. Staff and volunteers from SUNY Oneonta started to consolidate tables and clean up. Faith Tiemann, who works for Arc Otsego, was surprised how quickly everything went. "The clothing was piled higher than me yesterday," she said. "And I'm 5-foot-3, if you need to know." Now there was just a single layer of clothing items left, mostly T-shirts and pants.
Hardy, who has devoted his work to reclaiming reusable materials, called the disposable mentality ridiculous. "It's amazing how they go home just with the shirts on their back. They take the rest of their clothes and just, you know, toss them."
Fifteen minutes later, on Church Street, two Casella Waste workers dumped trash cans in the back of their garbage truck. "When the students leave, they throw away everything," said driver Rafal Ozimek.
He was driving a 60/40 truck — two sections with 60% capacity for trash, 40% for recycling, but the recycling side was mostly empty. "They don't separate anything," said Lucas Hammond of Bainbridge, as he threw mixed bags of clothing, cans, beer bottles and food packages into the truck, followed by a broom.
Around the corner on Franklin Street, a pile of trash the size of a small car sat in a driveway. While much of the pile was rubbish, it also contained a striped gray and white comforter, two mini fridges and an Elect Len Carson for Mayor sign.
Hammond pointed out that some students had literally thrown money away, as a coin jar fell into truck, the loose change tinkling into a pool of beer and broken bottles. "Stand back, it'll splash you," Ozimek said as he crushed the load.
Mike Forster Rothbart, staff writer, can be reached at mforsterrothbart@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7213. Follow him at @DS_MikeFR on Twitter.